"We going to, we're going to make sure that we do absolutely nothing to Interfere with the Mueller investigation. That is very, very important to us. But I can tell you that as far, he's right so that's fine. But we're going to have a lot more comments coming out later on. Right now my major concern. Is making sure that our government is open up."

"But as far as this hearing is concerned, we put out a statement. It's a very limited statement and we plan to do what the American people have asked us to do, that is to conduct hearings with integrity, with transparency, with honesty and most importantly accountability."

"I think that, I think people need to, the American people have an opportunity to hear from him, Mr. Cohen. And their representatives, that is representatives on the Republican side and the Democrat side will have an opportunity to ask him questions. And I think the American people will see that it did matter, that their votes did matter and that we opened it up for transparency."

"We love to hear his testimony before the Congress. It's my understanding that he doesn't intend to address the Russian investigation is open testimony. He is going to need to answer questions about it and we are in contact with the attorney. We hope that will come in voluntarily to testify before the Intel Committee in a closed session. So we have been in negotiation with that, about that for some time and we hope to wrap that up soon."

"He hasn't agreed but I think there is a good likelihood, I hope that he will. We would like to have him come in voluntarily testimony but at the end of the day there are questions he needs to answer. He testified once before our committee, he wasn't fully forthcoming. He's accepted responsibility for that. But that has raised questions that we need answered."

"I don't want to make representations on behalf of Special Counsel. We will obviously be in consultation with Special Counsel about his testimony before our committee but, we need to get a full accounting of what took place. He is in a unique position to help us do that. And so we look forward to having his testimony before a committee."

Storyline

President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, will testify publicly before a House committee next month in a hearing that could serve as the opening salvo of a promised Democratic effort to scrutinize Trump, his conflicts of interest and his ties to Russia.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced Thursday that Cohen will testify before that panel February 7, a little more than a month after the Democrats took the House majority.

The hearing marks the latest step in Cohen's transformation from a trusted legal adviser to the president to a public antagonist who has cooperated extensively against him.

It is likely to pull back the curtain on key episodes involving Trump's personal life and business dealings, including hush-money payments to women and a proposed Moscow real estate deal, that federal prosecutors have been dissecting for months.

The chairman of the oversight panel, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, said the committee is consulting with Mueller's office about the testimony.

He said "there will be limitations" on the topics covered in Cohen's testimony.

“We are going to make sure that we do absolutely nothing to interfere with the Mueller investigation,” Cummings said. “That is absolutely important to us.”

The oversight hearing may not be Cohen's only appearance.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said he welcomes Cohen's testimony before the oversight panel, but "he is going to need to answer questions about the Russia investigation.”

Schiff said that his office has been in negotiations with Cohen’s legal team for some time and “hope to wrap it up soon.”